You might have heard in the news that Flickr is being bought by SmugMug. What exactly does this mean for you if you have a Flickr account?

First of all, nothing will change at the moment, so no need to panic.

If you have a Flickr account, you won’t see any difference. You can use your usual login and do whatever you where able to do until now – as you would have been informed by email. What changes at the moment is the ownership. What SmugMug will do over time with Flickr we naturally don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.

Should you not agree with the change in ownership and choose to not have your account transferred to SmugMug, you will have to go to your Flickr account, download everything you want to keep and then delete your account in your account settings. This will have to be done by 25th May 2018. Should you need help with this, I’m more than happy to give you a hand – just call me on 0413 216 589.

While this all sounds kind of harmless, it is one of the reasons why companies and service providers like these shouldn’t be used as backup systems. At least these accounts shouldn’t be your only backup. It is entirely out of our control what they do and how it affects our content. Whilst they absolutely do have a place (I often use and like SmugMug), we shouldn’t rely on them heavily and stay in control of our photos.

Dropbox does a great thing when you use this option: it changes the filenames and renames the photos to YYYY-MM-DD hh.mm.ss!

Why the capture date of a photo is important

Now, why would anyone but a photo organiser think that this is cool?! Well, the capture date of a photo is probably pretty much one if not the most important piece of information we want to embed in a digital image. These days, this happens automatically when you take a picture. As long as your camera has the correct date/time setting, that is. If you don’t move your photos around and use weird software that might strip the photo of metadata, all is good.

Let Dropbox rename your photos and do half the work for you …

However … better safe than sorry, agree? So, one way to make sure that you will always know when a photo was taken is to use the capture date in the filename. There is of course very good (and often expensive) software you can use to batch rename photos to do this very efficiently. If you want to use what your computer gives you by default, this becomes a bit more tricky. That’s why I quite like that Dropbox feature.

There is no real right or wrong, but most people like to look at things chronologically. Hence, I always recommend to use a naming convention starting with

YYYYMMDD_hhmmss_{who, why, where, what etc.}

The big advantage is that your photos will automatically be sorted chronologically. Think adding the time takes it a bit too far? Up to you of course, but I like it because one then doesn’t need a sequential number. The photos will automatically be listed in chronological order. This works of course only if your camera has the right time, which means you need to make sure your camera or photo device is set on local time, especially when you travel.

What more is in a filename?

Now, a name with only the date is not very helpful and you might want to add more information. Such as who is in the photo, what was the occasion, where was it taken etc. You can add this information easily in the Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).

A handy little app to batch rename files on a Mac is NameChanger. Similar apps for Windows are listed here (no affiliation with any of the providers).

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Living in the bushfire prone outskirts of Melbourne, in beautiful Nillumbik – which is also called the green wedge – has triggered my passion for keeping photo collections safe at all times but especially during summer.

It can be a very overwhelming project and there is no doubt it is usually very time consuming. Read in this guest blog how you can prepare and backup your photos before natural disaster hits. If you are time-poor, the quick solution will be scenario 2 mentioned in the article. I call it the ‘Grab and Run’ scenario. Ideally however, you are able to set some time aside and work on your photo collection to prepare it even more. Either way, you will gain peace of mind knowing that your photos are as safe as they can be.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and purchase that product or service, I will be paid a small commission, however your cost will be the same. I only recommend products or services I know and trust.

I have travelled quite a bit in my life, mostly before I had a digital camera and a smart phone, and backup was never even mentioned. So, after the holidays, I had a few rolls of film that needed developing. From there, they went pretty much straightaway into an album. Easy peasy … until our children came along and we bought our first digital camera and a video camera.

These days, digital cameras come in all sizes and shapes. There are also several other devices such as iPods and tablets, and of course a mobile phone that takes pretty good pictures and is easy to carry around.

Especially when travelling, these things can easily get lost, stolen, or damaged and you might lose all of those precious photos you took (possibly even those taken before your trip if you haven’t got a backup system in place). So, what can you do to keep your photos safe and backed up during your trip?

I’ve listed some options for you and have tried to cater to as many needs and budgets as possible. Just go through the list and find which method suits you most. You may even vary between methods from one trip to another depending on where you go.

Photo organisers recommend that you save three copies of a photo. This might not always be realistic while travelling but keep it in mind. Also, downloading your photos to a backup place and then deleting the photos on your camera is not a backup – it’s just a relocation of your photos!

These are general tips and I haven’t tried all of the mentioned methods and products. Technology changes all the time so please do your own research with regards to the equipment you need.

Backup from a Phone

To the cloud (automatically or manually)

You might think that the whole topic is a no brainer because you just upload everything to the cloud, possibly even automatically. Well, when you’re travelling you might not have easy internet access or possibly only a very slow connection. Therefore, in many cases, the cloud will not be an option.

However, if you do have internet access it is a great way to backup your photos. Especially because photo organisers recommend that you not only have three copies of a photo but also in two different locations.

Dropbox has worked well for me in the past. There are of course lots of other services such as iCloud, Google+, OneDrive, etc.

A word of caution: read the small print of all providers before you make a choice. Just as an example: there are some who will charge you if you want to download your photos from their cloud service or with some of them you won’t get back the original resolution or you might have to download them one by one which takes ages.

To a portable hard drive with WiFi

Together with the right app (depending on your phone) you can upload your photos wirelessly to a portable hard drive. An example is Seagate Wireless Plus.

To a portable hard drive without WiFi

This is a bit trickier because you will need a computer via which you can copy your photos to (see below how to do this). Don’t shy away from the idea of using a portable hard drive. I use Seagate all the time and they’re really light and small; perfect to carry around.

To a computer

If you take a laptop on your trip you simply need to connect your phone to your computer and download, or rather copy your photos (remember – if you download and then delete them on the phone it’s not considered a backup!). To be even safer you could then copy the images to an external hard drive or USB to backup your computer – et voilà: you’ve got your three copies J.

You may also use a computer in a hotel business centre or in an internet café if you travel without your own.

To a USB flash drive for smartphones and tablets

There are various USB flash drives which you can connect directly to your phone and download your photos to. They come in various sizes and are pretty easy to carry around. This is definitely a favourite of mine.

To a tablet

The fastest way if you don’t have internet access is probably to use Airdrop (Apple only), which creates a peer-to-peer network. SHAREit works similarly.

To an SD card

Some Android phones actually include a mini SD card. Make sure in the settings that this is where the photos are stored. If you want to transfer photos from the SD card please see below for options.

iPhones cannot export or copy photos from the phone directly to an SD card. It is only possible via a computer.

Backup from a Camera Memory Card

Remove the memory card from your camera (or your Android phone) and use a card reader to import the photos to a computer, your phone, a tablet, or another mobile device. Make sure you have the correct reader/s and adapters with you.

If a computer and a portable hard drive is too much to carry along, a memory card backup system like Nexto DI or Hyperdrive might be the ideal solution. They are like a hard drive with slots for the memory cards and come with a display as well.

Backup from a Camera via USB Connection

Connect the camera to a computer via the USB cable and copy your photos. While you’re at it, you might make another copy to an external hard drive or to the cloud if you have internet access.

Wireless Backup from a Camera Memory Card

Invest in an Eye-Fi memory card which can transfer photos wirelessly to your device or computer. Keep in mind that the camera will have to be powered on while photos are transferred which requires battery power.

Once you have copied the photos from your camera to a computer or other device, you can use the above-mentioned tips to back these up.

Before You Travel

Work out a backup plan that suits your needs.

Make sure you have all the necessary equipment formatted correctly (especially portable hard disks).

Don’t forget at least one international power adapter.

Think about how you want to transport these things so they stay organised and safe. Try to keep the camera away from the backup.

Make sure all your cameras always have the correct date/time setting (of the time zone you’re in when taking the photo). It will make your life a lot easier because you will automatically have the correct chronological order (especially if you use several cameras and devices).

Once your trip has started, keep in mind to set aside some time to backup your photos regularly.

Enjoy your holiday!

After Your Trip

Remember, these backups are meant to happen while you’re travelling. If one of the copies you made is now already in your photo hub (e.g. Dropbox) it will save you the time to download everything again. If they are not in your usual hub yet, you’ll have to move your photos to your hub as soon as possible and use your usual photo management workflow.

Save Trip!

This post was also published by Save Your Photos, an initiative by the Association of Personal Photo Organisers (APPO) to celebrate ‘Save Your Photos Month’ in September. Read it here.

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